The head of the Catholic Church in Seoul expressed willingness to host the next World Youth Day in 2027 in the wake of a tragic stampede that killed at least 150 people on Saturday.
“It would be an extraordinary opportunity to relaunch (the) youth ministry in a country struggling with the demographic winter,” said Archbishop Peter Chung Soon-taick of Seoul in a report on AsiaNews.
“We are presenting our candidacy to be the diocese that will host the world gathering of young people,” said the prelate as he described country’s educational system as “dominated by competitiveness.”
The prelate said the Halloween stampede over the weekend in Seoul “give(s) a slightly different flavor to the educational challenge that underlies this desire of the Church.”
He said he hopes that the next World Youth Day will again be held in Asia, especially in Korea, “for what it could represent in the moment that its Church is experiencing.”
“In Korea we are facing a great challenge because the total number of young people is greatly reducing,” said Archbishop Chung.
“Compared to twenty years ago, young people have decreased by a quarter,” he told AsiaNews. “The birth rate of our country is the lowest in the world,” he added.
“Consequently, the number of young people who attend our churches also decrease,” he said.
The archbishop also noted that many students “end up sucked into the vortex of competition to win a place in the best universities, the gateway to the most qualified jobs.”
He said that even among Catholic parents “there are those who discourage [children] from attending ecclesial activities, to go instead to attend extra-curricular courses to study even more.”
“This competition is a very heavy burden on the shoulders of young people,” said Archbishop Chung.
“We need a turning point for youth ministry in Seoul,” he said, adding that the World Youth Day “is a propitious occasion.”
He said the proposal was already presented to the bishops conference of Korea and they are preparing a “dossier” to be sent to the Holy See.
